Departments

Rebecca Hiltz LeBlanc has performed for up to 10,000 people at a time, but these days she faces intimidating, single-member audiences — in the courtroom. “It’s much more frightening to be in front of one judge,” says the associate with the Nova Scotia firm Boyne Clarke.

Quebec City lawyer Micheline Montreuil made history in the first case she pleaded as a woman.

Micheline Montreuil

It began in 1997 when Montreuil, an out-of-the-closet transgender who had practised law for 25 years as Pierre Montreuil, launched the first of three highly publicized court challenges against the refusal by Quebec’s registrar of civil status to allow her to legally change her name to Micheline.

So far, only Quebec has introduced legislation to stop lawsuits from big companies that appear to pick on the little guys opposing their plans. Goliath didn’t have the option of suing David for malicious use of a slingshot, but today’s corporate giants can and sometimes do use the law as a blunt instrument to intimidate weaker foes.

Five years ago, the legal department at Lufthansa German Airlines started using Legalbill, a software-based audit and compliance service. Legalbill helps companies monitor — and control — legal spending.

Not every lawyer can say he has crawled through the belly of an Israeli army tank scrubbing out bilge. “Every 600 hours, they take the engine out for reconditioning,” says Morris Soronow, a B.C. lawyer and litigator. “What is left is a lot of grease, oil, and sand and if this is not cleaned out, when the refurbished engine goes back in, it will gum it up.”

Western Canada’s oilpatch has been of increasing interest to Asian firms seeking to expand their global energy acquisitions. While the purchases by Asian firms have so far involved relatively small-scale operations, it’s expected there will be more as the cost to invest decreases in comparison to the frenzied boom period that was drawing investors three years ago.

Newly appointed Alberta Provincial Court Judge Eugene Creighton has rodeo coursing through his veins. A member of the Blood Tribe and Kainai First Nation, Creighton no longer calf ropes, however, he does compete in team roping. But today it is a justice system of fines and incarceration he hopes to corral, in favour of one seeking alternative measures to improve the chances of success for aboriginals.